In 1941, a group of the Soviet Union’s most prominent Jewish writers and artists signed an appeal to Jews throughout the world, asking them to join the Soviet people “in the holy war against Fascism... to destroy the enemy of humanity and of the Jewish people.”

The group included actor Solomon Mikhoels, poet Peretz Markish and film director Sergei Eisenstein. This newsreel footage captures their eloquent, impassioned appeals. Tragically, Mikhoels and Markish later fell victim to the Stalinist purges in the 1940s and ‘50s (Eisenstein died of natural causes in the 1940s.) This film stands as an important record of how the Soviet government relaxed its ethnic policies in order to appeal to anyone who could help fight fascism and the Nazis.

NCJF Film Restoration

Preserved and restored with funding from the C.M. and Raquel H. Newman Trust